Monthly Archives: February 2014

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A while back I visited Marshall’s in Edmonton, and recently returned. I picked up a few different things, but before sharing those (and hopefully some subsequent finished projects too!) I figured I would share some updated photos using a real camera instead of just my iPhone!

Marshall’s has big areas for quilting cottons, fun fur, fleece, and home decorating, with smaller areas for knits, fancies, and other fabrics. Despite the name, I found the prices for the items I looked at to be no better than a lot of other fabric stores – certainly not the “discounts” I hoped for!

One of the things I seem to constantly be looking for these days is Viking-style pendants and other jewelry (and since I can’t wear earrings, and rarely wear bracelets because I find them irritating when I type… this generally means pendants). When in Seattle I saw a great Thor’s Hammer, but it was WAY too expensive, so I’ve looked in a few other places too. When I was in Vancouver, I found a sweet little shop called DragonSpace Gift Shop on Granville Island. It’s a fantasy-themed shop with Celtic artwork along with dragons galore, fairies, and other gentle (and not-so-gentle) fantasy characters.

I was also pretty psyched to see a very small selection of Viking-style pendants!

The one at the top is a stylized Viking ship based on archeological findings, while others included a Valknut, Mjölnir(Thor’s Hammer), and a Celtic-style lion. (Yes.. Vikings knew about lions, and decorated their ships with them along with dragons, bulls, dolphins, and other animals/creatures.)

Viking pendants I bought in Vancouver – Valknut and Hammer

I have been wearing the Valknut regularly along with another hammer and my Tyr pendant, as you might remember if you follow me on Twitter.

I’ve been past Out of Hand, located in Lakeview shopping centre, a few times, but always thought that it was a tailoring or alterations shop. I walked passed a week or so ago, and realized that it’s actually a hand-sewing and quilting shop. I was quite interested in seeing some of the unique products they had, so popped out my iPhone for some quick (and sometimes a little blurry – oops!) photos.

Ribbon trim

Silk ribbons at Out of Hand

Above I photographed a really nice selection of silk ribbon including beautiful gradient ribbons. If I want to make ribbon flowers, I bet these would be wonderful for that purpose.

Blurry iPhone photo of rose-ribbon and spiked trim at Out of Hand

This second photo is the blurry one – but I thought that the spiked trim was really cool, and I could definitly see myself using it. They also had a small stock of that pretty ribbon rose trim – I bought some of this a while back, but haven’t used it yet.

A small selection of buttons

The shop also had a small selection of buttons – including loads of gorgeous rhinestone buttons. I didn’t check out the prices of the buttons though – some of these I bet are really pricey!

Buttons at Out of Hand

Closer photo (and a little blurry) of some of the buttons above along with a further (and more clear!) photo of some of the other buttons below. This only represents about 1/6th of the buttons they had. I love the black rhinestone buttons above, and the clear rhinestone buttons below. I’ve bought some similar kinds recently for another project, but it’s nice to know about this selection as well.

Out of Hand also has a nice selection of extra-large buttons that I think would be great on chunky hand-knit items. (I don’t recall seeing yarn mind you.)

Buttons at Out of Hand

Teddy bear & stuffed animal supplies

Fur for teddy bears and other stuffed animals

I’m not especially interested in making teddy bears and other stuffed animals, but sometimes I’ve found finding these kinds of items a bit difficult, so I wanted to make a note of this as well. Shown above is a sampling of some of their fur fabrics.

…and then an interruption

I had been really excited to find the shop, make a few notes, and take few photos of the unique items they had at Out of Hand. One of the staff people had seen me taking a few discreet photos (I’m careful not to get people in the shots as much as possible) but then another shop clerk came by and let me know that they didn’t like photos in the shop. I’m not quite sure why, as she was quite brisk and didn’t invite conversation on the issue. It could be that she didn’t want people comparing prices or knocking off ready-made items? Not sure… So, unfortunately the other noteworthy items I can only tell you about, instead of sharing by photos.

Tiny little charms – kittens, puppies, crowns and more. I think these would be cute for Victorian Crazy Quilts or charm bracelets.

They had a small but interesting supply of dupioni silk, but their prices were quite a bit higher than the other places I usually get silk from – they were asking $29.50/meter!

They had yardage covered in feathers – so unusual!

Their quick bias (for stained glass quilts) was also quite expensive – they were asking $19.50 for 11 yards – I’ve bought the same stuff for $5.00 for 11 yards in Vancouver.

They had some super-cute laminated cotton (including an adorable black, white, and red Scotty dog print) that would be perfect for rain coats or waterproof totes. This was also expensive I thought, at $28.50/meter, but honestly I see this fabric so rarely, that I don’t have much to compare it to! I’ve seen it in a really tiny quilt shop in BC, and at a quilt shop on MacLeod Trail, but in both locations the selection was minimal.

Have you been there?

Have you visited Out of Hand? What did you think of the little shop? Let me know in the comments below! You can find them here:

In my previous post I showed off some of the supplies I picked up at Kensington Art Supply’s moving sale – and now I’m going to show off some paintings!

…. One I bought might you – and the other I did before the sale… but the timing is good, right?

Jellyfish painting

The first one is a Jellyfish – partially inspired by my photo of Jellyfish from Vancouver Aquarium’s Jellyfish exhibit. (You can see the photos on my other blog: Happy Sushi Belly) I wanted the high contrast between the water and the jellyfish, and worked with acrylics on canvas.

Below is a painting of the Northern Lights I purchased a while back that I don’t think I photographed and shared yet. I think I picked it up at one of the Calyx art shows. It has been hanging in my bedroom since I bought it, but I’ll likely be replacing it with one of the other paintings I did not too long ago.

At the end of January, Kensington Art Supply was having one last blow-out sale before their move to their new space in South East Calgary (far, far away from Kensington….) Since my BFF Connie was showing off her ‘haul’ I figured I’d do a super-quick post to do the same.

My “haul” from Kensington Art Supply’s moving sale

I specifically wanted to get some interference acrylic paints (mostly inspired by the Acrylic Illuminations book I mentioned in a previous post) and more self-levelling clear gel medium. I ended up getting the interference paints (those five tubes…) and the gel – plus a few more mediums, a brayer, some shrink film, and some liquid acrylics (including more interference ones!)

Now, just to find the time to use some of them!

In the meantime, the new Kensington Art Supply location is at 120, 6999 – 11 Street SE Calgary, just north of the Deerfoot Meadows Shopping Centre beside Lee Valley Tools and Bondar’s.